Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Christmas Album - Paul Mauriat

Regretfully I've been so busy with work that I haven't had the opportunity to post as many albums as I'd like before Christmas. So I'm going to add one today - Paul Mauriat's The Christmas Album - and one tomorrow to make up for it.

This is a top-notch offering from Mauriat, for full orchestra and wordless chorus. There's the old favourites here: "Jingle Bells", "White Christmas", "Silent Night", plus lesser-known titles like "Entre Le Boeuf Et L'Ane Gris" (aka "Among The Cattle and The Grey Donkey" - a Mauriat original?) and "Il est ne Le Divin Enfant" ("The Divine Infant Is Born"). All arranged and performed for maximum festive impact!

This album was re-issued on CD in a less complete form. That CD is now out-of-print. (and note: argh! "Trois Anges Sont Venus" ("Three Angels Appeared") plays twice in this file - once right after "White Christmas", so they're the same MP3 file. Quality control has been fired for this!)

I can't believe it! CFCF-12 TV here in Montreal used to run a bumper during the holidays, in place of newsbreaks. It was a vignette of winter countryside scenes, backed with the most haunting and otherworldly instrumental — orchestral, with a chorus of "oohs" and "aahs."

They stopped showing the bumper around the mid-90s. Since the advent of YouTube, I've been looking for someone with a copy they could post. It turns out others have fond memories of the vignette as well, and one of them identified the song as "Entre le boeuf et l'âne gris." I've searched the web up and down to find the exact version from the bumper, and have come up empty... until now.

This is absolutely incredible. I'm thrilled. First the Rudolph album, and now this. Thank you so much! :D

I am looking for a CFCF-12 Season's Greetings commercial from the 80's. Was winter scene's with barns, a horse running in a field of snow, etc. Anyone know where I could view this or know what I am talking about??